BALANCING ACT

        It's not what you think. Just because all those environmental safeguards are biting the dust it's not corporate greed. It's really Cheney/Bush balancing corporate interests and humanity's interests. We are getting "the best government money can buy," declares former Texas Governor, Jim Hightower.

        Remember the excesses that characterized the Clinton era: The pay down of a huge national debt and the emergence of surpluses? Several tracts of land and forests preserved for future generations? Restrictions on greenhouse gasses, arsenic and lead? Massive effort to preserve peace in the Middle East, Ireland and the Balkans? A whole eight years of rising stock markets and a strong economy?

        Cheney/Bush to the rescue!!!   Excesses of that sort must be balanced according to their administration. The very second it got control of the executive office it proceeded to undertake balancing. Both Cheney and Bush declared that there would be a recession. The stock market took a big dive then acted like a yo-yo.

        Another excess involving Social Security will soon be dealt with. It will allow people to put money that they might have in savings or in retirement funds into the stock market. This will mean there would be less money that the SS program would have to pay out. All that excess money from SS going to poor retirees would mostly be eliminated -- balance.

        Just look at the excess in black voters that Jesse Jackson and others signed up in Florida. This particular excess was neutralized by brother Jeb and his Secretary of State before brother Dubya was appointed by the Supremes -- balance.

        How the GOP Gamed the System in Florida, by John Lantigua (4/30/01)

        State officials deny racist intent in their actions, but the US Commission on Civil Rights conducted two hearings in Florida in January and February to determine why so many Floridians were denied the right to vote. In a preliminary assessment, the commission noted that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 "was aimed at subtle, as well as obvious, state regulation and practices" that could deny citizens the right to vote because of their race. The commission said it found evidence of "prohibited discrimination" in Florida's polling process. A final report is due this summer. http://www.thenation.com/
        The public uproar that dubbed Dubya, The Great Contaminator, because he scrapped President Clinton's reduction of CO2 emissions, allowable arsenic in drinking water and ban on drilling in Alaska was cause for an immediate balance. EPA's Christi Whitman was directed to assure us that Clinton's lead regulation would remain in force -- balance achieved.

        We have understood for some time now why the few richest people in the country will get most of the tax cut money while most of the population get whatever is left over -- balanced payback. At the rate they are going, within a few years we should get most of that huge national debt back too.

        The Washington Post reports about a Cheney/Bush Energy task force that is operating in secrete. It recalls the Clinton Health Care task force that did the same thing. And, of course, it must be balanced.

          -- Bush officials are well aware that the two task forces have similarities, in timing and importance. Both focused on complex, divisive issues that pitted consumers against industry. And both administrations sought to keep their subject confidential to keep the public's attention on other matters (Clinton's economic plan and Bush's tax cut) and to prevent opposition from organizing.

          -- Balancing those hot-button items*, task force officials say they will also have "hidden gems" that will please environmentalists. "We're going to have conservation, we're going to have renewables, and thoughtful pieces on the environment," one said.  
                      -- Energy Task Force Works in Secret, by Dana Milbank and Eric Pianin, Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, April 16, 2001; Page 01

        *Hot-button items were identified as drilling for oil and gas in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, easing of the regulations on the construction of coal burning and nuclear plants and disposal of nuclear waste in Nevada. So nice to know that all those items will be balanced by "hidden gems."

        Gee, we sure hope that all the politicos and other citizens will also contribute to the quest for balance and raise the kind of hell with this task force being held in secret just as they did with the Clinton's secret task force.

        Speaking of balance, isn't it time we had a woman president to balance out the 30+ men that have been elected (plus one appointed)? Formerly, we women were characterized as mentally unable to grasp the complexities of this, the highest office in the land. Now that the Supremes have appointed Dubya to that office that clearly begs the question. There is hardly a woman in the country that isn't smarter then he is.

        twanda@gendergappers.org       

        2001-017

        Copyright 2001 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: twanda@gendergappers.org.

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